Intelligent Wearable Devices for Monitoring Sleep Parameters in Patients With Erectile Dysfunction

Background The alteration of sleep patterns can lead to bias in the observation of nocturnal penile tumescence and rigidity (NPTR). The validity of sleep‐related erections (SREs) is questioned when sleep quality is affected. Not all NPTR results accurately reflect the reality of ED patients. Objectives The present study aims to simultaneously monitor sleep and NPTR monitoring in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED), thereby evaluating the effect of sleep on NPTR monitoring and validating the reliability of NPTR monitoring data obtained from RigiScan. Methods The present study recruited patients who had an International Index of Erectile Function‐5 (IIEF‐5) score ≤21 and had ED greater than 6 months duration. Then all participants were subjected to the following: NPTR assessment utilizing RigiScan devices; sleep assessment using a Fitbit Charge 2 wristband. Results Eighty‐six patients (age 29.8 ± 7.09 and BMI 24.3 ± 3.62) with complaints of ED were included. Stratification analysis showed that patients with abnormal NPTR results had a shorter total sleep time (TST) and time in rapid eye movement (REM). The duration of tip erections ≥60% of the men with short TST was significantly longer than the not short group. The results showed that the time in REM of population with was positively correlated with the TST and the duration of NPTR. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed between the normal and the abnormal NPTR groups, and the parameter with the highest diagnostic accuracy was the time in REM. Conclusion Our study confirmed that sleep states comprising TST and REM are closely related to nocturnal erection. It is necessary to perform sleep monitoring when completing NPTR examinations for patients suspected of suffering from ED.